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Building on A Behavioral Theory of the Firm and on A Network Theory of Social Capital, this dissertation develops a theory that serves as the basis to understand what guides firm search, particularly, why ex ante alternative assessment drives exploration by focusing the attention of the firm on certain alternative sets. It conceptualizes firm search as a two-stage process, where a choice set is populated with better understood alternatives. As a result, firm's exploration is seen not as a random jump, but a search that is channeled by the embeddedness of the firm in networks of firms and individuals. First, a computer simulation (agent-based model) provides support to the assumption that increase accuracy in ex ante alternative assessment improves exploration success. Then, two additional studies of the semiconductor industry, primarily utilizing patent data from 1975 to 1995 to capture information flows, inventor …